FBI disputes hacker claims

Washington - The FBI is disputing a computer hacker group's claim that it stole personal identification data on more than one million Apple device owners from an FBI agent's laptop.

The FBI says it never asked for and never possessed the database that the group, which calls itself AntiSec, is posting on a website.

The group released a link to a database of more than one million Apple device identification numbers.

Federal officials are warning that computer users should be careful when clicking on such links because they may contain malware that can infect computers.

AntiSec is a hacker group affiliated with Anonymous, a collection of internet-savvy activists who have targeted governments, officials or corporations over a variety of political grievances.

Apple did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Comments

donald.westhuizen - 2012-09-05 13:32

Why do the FBI have all this information?

Spiral - 2012-09-05 15:38

but they said they dont... and we can all trust the FBI, cant we :)

ludlowdj - 2012-09-06 13:01

They like every single other intelligence organisation in the world spend their time collecting information on anyone they perceive to be a threat, this habit has now also extended to collecting information on everyone, so that if they become a threat in the future there is enough information on them already. South Africa uses a variation of the US "echelon" system as well which collects and analyses every single single electronic signal that is sent or received within out borders as well. They presently get away with it on the basis that the information is not seen or analysed by humans but rather by software which look for and flags key words and phrases which are then checked by human operators. My understanding is that this information is stored indefinitely for possible future use.